What is Fair Computer Time?
Managing computer time fairly is sometimes difficult when some students benefit more than just academically.
Varying activities for challenging students may result in an in-balance of computer time for some students in a one-computer classroom.
How do you spell relief? Take the case of one Mr. John Doe (not his real name), a highly intelligent middle school student who is bored very easily. When he is bored, he disturbs and distracts others by throwing paper, getting up out of his seat, and hitting others. In our school, we teach in blocks, and when we have students who have difficulty staying on task, we need to come up with other options that still relate to our instructional objectives. Mr. Doe enjoys using the computer, and works well with creating slideshows, for a while at least. I have determined that A) he burns out after an hour of class time (in other words, he completely tunes out, becomes disrespectful, and bothers others. B) We can avoid this burn out by assigning him a similar assignment on our classroom computer. I try to schedule his time for later in the class period, which is his “danger time”. My other students, interestingly enough, are extremely supportive of this arrangement and they even let me know when it is time for Mr. Doe to shift activities. Mr. Doe is very productive during his computer time, so I feel it is a benefit to everyone in the class! P.S. Mr. Doe is a composite of several students that I teach on a weekly basis.
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